NFL: Lions rally to beat Eagles 26-23 in OT

PHILADELPHIA – For the second straight Sunday the Eagles were locked, loaded and ready to finish their opponent.

Clearly they were better than the Detroit Lions.

But one mistake led to another and the Eagles panicked the way a crowd does when someone screams “fire” in a theater.

When the sun set the Eagles were hemorrhaging from a brutal 26-23 overtime defeat that left them trying to figure out why they can’t close games.

Only the seasoned veterans seemed to know what happened, including wide receiver Jason Avant, who delivered a scathing wide ranging indictment.

“It’s just undisciplined,” Avant said. “That’s the bottom line. It’s undisciplined football and an undisciplined team at this point. And six games in, it’s embarrassing. That’s the word. It’s definitely embarrassing for coaches and for veteran players with the mindset of ‘me’ before the team in certain instances. And we need to address that before we play another ball game.”

The Eagles are an undisciplined 3-3 entering their bye week. They proved to be just what the Lions (2-3) needed to snap a two-game skid.

It’s going to be a difficult bye week not only for the players but for Andy Reid, whose players now are saying the kinds of things that get coaches canned.

“The thing about it is Coach Reid is a disciplinarian,” Asomugha said. “And there are moments in the game when (discipline) becomes the issue. It makes no sense.”

While Eagles players played dumb and a disgusted Reid cut his news conference off after just 3½ minutes, various veterans targeted what went wrong Sunday.

There were nine Eagles penalties, two on defensive tackle Fletcher Cox within seconds almost five minutes into the fourth quarter, resulting in his ejection for punching one of the Lions during a PAT.

“You should not be punching anybody,” Reid mentioned right before disgustedly ending his news conference.

There were three Eagles turnovers, Michael Vick throwing two interceptions and center Dallas Reynolds bouncing a shotgun snap off the quarterback as he waved to DeSean Jackson to go in motion.

Vick wasn’t discouraged the first two Eagles’ series went nowhere. Vick eventually dinked and dunked the Eagles to a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter on a quick throw to Jeremy Maclin who thundered 70 yards on his own. It was the Eagles biggest lead of the season.

In overtime Vick was sacked on first and second down by Cliff Avril and Kyle Vanden Bosch, sending the Eagles back to their 4-yard line. The coaches breathed a sigh of a relief when Vick wasn’t flagged for a safety throwing the ball away on third-and-31 out of his own end zone. At that point a Hall of Fame O-line would have had trouble stopping the Lions.

“It’s very frustrating,” Vick said. “That’s our shot. That’s our opportunity and it changed the dynamics of the game. After the first possession a field goal wins the game. We just, these sort of things can’t happen. We all have to do our jobs and be accountable.”

Strategically, the Eagle coaches apparently shot themselves in the foot with their decision to blitz down the homestretch after getting reasonably good pressure but no sacks with minimal blitzing.

“We started blitzing more,” Asomugha said. “Maybe they could take advantage of that, if they were able to recognize where it was coming from. We were playing one-on-one coverage and they started going after the best matchup for them. They were able to do that effectively.

“I know we blitzed a lot more toward the end of the game and we didn’t do as much blitzing the first 3½ quarters.”

The absence of Cox left the pass rush shorthanded and the run defense vulnerable. Additionally, safety Nate Allen was lost to a strained hamstring. His replacement was special teams standout Colt Anderson.

Much to the chagrin of Eagles defensive coordinator Juan Castillo, Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford found all of the holes, throwing for 102 yards in the fourth quarter, including a 17-yard pass to Nate Burleson.

In overtime, Stafford strafed the Eagles with a 16-yard throw to Tony Scheffler and a 17-yarder to Calvin Johnson, who Asomugha defended reasonably well considering the pass rush.

Asomugha generally rolled to the side of Johnson, who wound up with six receptions for 135 yards.

Lions head coach Jim Schwartz didn’t prolong the agony. He sent Jason Hanson out to kick the winning 45-yard field goal on third down. Hanson had a brisk 20 mph wind.

Afterward, Reid gave it to his players straight.

“There wasn’t much that needed to be said,” Asomugha said. “It was embarrassing that we lost the way we did, that the fight wasn’t there at the end of the game like it had been all year pretty much.”